Garth View, Sunday 27th November 2011.

Actually, Harry’s feeling a bit drained just now, and Sally’s busy running all sorts of everyday errands, so I’ll have to do it and tie up various loose ends.

Competitions: (Ah! Back home with familiar equipment – no problem to type that correctly!)

THAT is a ‘BOUFFADOU’. Holding it by the little twiggy bit, you blow through it to revive your fire or barbecue; we are assured that where there is the slightest glow, there will soon be a useful flame. Judi came close to identifying the function by suggesting ‘bellows’, and so won her very own packet of Little Schoolboys, which was presented to her during the reception at Rachel’s wedding:

Judi’s appreciation of Little Schoolboys (er … rephrase?) has already appeared as a comment on Postcard 17.

No-one came close to suggesting appropriate English wording for the notice at the swimming pool in the neighbouring campsite at Labenne, (see Postcard 12 if you really want to know what this is about!) so strictly speaking no-one won the prize. However, for the humour of her contribution and for entering into the concept of ‘Postcards From Harry’ with comments on several postings – not to mention her cheek in specifying the particular wine she was hoping for – we decided Meg should indeed receive a bottle of Vouvray Petillant, which was therefore handed over at the ‘Fayre and Square’ in Bury, where some family and friends met for lunch last Sunday, after the wedding:

Chris had a commendable go at working out the original French, but unfortunately, perhaps because he was taken ill (maybe the task made his brain go funny), he didn’t finish the job or post his suggestions on the blog. Still, we gave him a ‘highly commended’ prize of a bottle of Vin d’Oléron:

We think the English text should be something like:

ACTION TO BE TAKEN IN CASE OF …. Or better still  WHAT TO DO IF … but notices of this sort are always written in latin-based formalese instead of straightforward anglo-saxon. Then , (on hearing three whistles) IMMEDIATE EVACUATION OF THE POOLS AND SURROUNDING AREAS. LEAVE YOUR BELONGINGS WHERE THEY ARE – YOU WILL GET THEM BACK AFTER THE EMERGENCY.

As for the French, it read:

CONDUITE A TENIR EN CAS DE

and referring to the evacuation:

BASSINS ET PLAGES

LAISSEZ SUR PLACE VOS AFFAIRES

The use of ‘tenir’ in this context is surprising, and what error led to the English word ‘like’ is a mystery, which is why I said we couldn’t have worked back to the French from the funny English.

After ‘showing his working’ Chris came up with “Conduisez-vous comme ceci en cas de” for the first part and suggested the English  “How to behave if heard”, which gets the message across, but I can’t imagine an English writer putting it on a notice.

…. And one or two readers who’ve got this far may be puzzled by the first sentence of this posting. Harry is feeling ‘drained’ because we’ve done our best, without buying additional gadgetry, to empty both his fresh and used water tanks as a precaution against frost damage. Simples!